Long time lurker on the board but now I finally have something to post/add to the conversation. I'm a huge Amazing Race fan and, when hearing here that DC was the final destination city, I took an extra hour for lunch from work in DC and checked out the filming in and around town.

Amazing experience, and topped it off with being right next to clue box while teams ran into a challenge at Nationals Park and spotted Phil leaving for a standup/shoot.

Quick summary:-Saw four teams, including hockey players (who seemed to be slowly going about things from the challenge to their cab, which makes me think they were decoys..more below), pink female/female (from my glimpse, Elizabeth and Mona, who were in a rush at the Roadblock and hailing a cab) and the male/female (the team discussed as maybe Jaclyn and Jarrod, hurting to hail a cab along the Tidal Basin) as well as a female pink team (I think from posts it would be Jennifer Wayne, who seemed to be taking her time talking to the camera crew during the Roadblock)

-Roadblock: Teams raced from previous location (unknown to me, but rumored to be downtown/Old Post Office Pavilion) to Tidal Basin for Switchback of the Family Edition DC Roadblock in that they had to find a spie amongst 100s around the Basin to whisper a phrase and exchange briefcases. Teams ran into the Jefferson Memorial and then team member ran to find their spy. I counted/encountered about 150 spies wandering the Basin, and saw the pink team rush out with camera in toe to find their spie. I have one picture of the lone pink team being filmed, but they again seemed to be taking their time with production and not racing. After circling around, Mona and Elizabeth were trying hard to hail a cab in the worst spot along the Basin to catch one (and didn't hear me offering to help from my car) and about 10 feet away Jaclyn/Jarod were trying hard as well. Seemed these two teams were in a dead heat and trying in the same spot for cabs and were holding clue envelopes. This location was not too tourist filled, but there was a large contingent of production cars, tents and crew along with circling helicopter. Additionally, passed a few towncars that had race flags on the front bumpers like flags that are usually utilized by cars carrying diplomats (think the motorcade and the little flags on the front ends of the hood). Not sure if this was the transportation from Dulles to Roadblock or from elsewhere.

-Nats Park (either a Detour or challenge task): I saw Phil here early on walking to production cars to head out. Setup, with crew members, were rigging leading from outfield plaza in left center to the top of the highest point of park across the outfield above first base. From my two vantage points (I have a few pictures), teams started in the plaza and had to work their way up (by winch, hand crank, I don't know) up to the top, get a clue and then exited front of park. After seeing the Roadblock, I came back to Nats Park and clue box was set up at main gate and the hockey team ran out slowly, carrying their briefcase and leaving their camer and sound guy far behind, to their cab and hopped in to head out. One of them commented "It was snug in that thing". Again, they were running slow but they were the only team there at that time, and I knew that the other two teams were still back at the Roadblock. Perhaps they knew they had a lead? Production car followed them out of the park and onto the next destination.

I didn't hear any clues as to finish line, but from the earlier tweet, and time of year, Mt. Vernon Estate (George Washington's home and estate) would fit perfectly, as it's secluded, down an access road and usually quiet this time of year.

I have multiple pictures on my phone (some good, some not great due to trying to shoot pictures and driving) that I can't upload until I get home (or Peach, can you pull from my Twitter or if I post to facebook?). Needless to say, it was awesome seeing this in action.

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Nice job....man, I live so close to Nationals Park and had I known (and I admit, I hadn't checked this board in months), I would have took today off and played around in DC. I drove by Nationals Park late afternoon, there were a bunch of seats covered up but that is all I could see for certain. The way the stadium is designed, you can see some things but nothing on the field without being inside the stadium. There is a garage next to the stadium but that was gated off (that would have been the best vantage point because of how high it is). Funny how they used the Tidal Basin (it's about 50 degrees in DC today) for a task from the family edition too. The clue box would have been cool to see.

-Roadblock: Switchback of the Family Edition DC Roadblock in that they had to find a spie amongst 100s around the Basin to whisper a phrase and exchange briefcases. Teams ran into the Jefferson Memorial and then team member ran to find their spy. I counted/encountered about 150 spies wandering the Basin, and saw the pink team rush out with camera in toe to find their spie.

In honour of your on-the-ground effort to stalk teams in DC, I would love to add/support the evidence by posting the picture of some spy agents that were seen in Tidal Basin :

Posted on:4.50 am 12/8/2012 (note: melbourne time, as always )

Secret service sniped. secret-service washington dc

Image courtesy and copyright of:@avasuppelsa

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Don't ever put {hashtag} '#amazingrace' if you don't want to be chased by RFF's TAR Detectives

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Mnay thanks to STROCHE for these wonderful pics! They came a bit scrambled time wise so I grouped some, and added a few closeups, but he is going to have to explain them all!

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

stroche -- I was on the ground in DC today too, but didn't get nearly as much (good) information as you got. I can fill in the blanks on the Old Post Office, though.

After scoping out Lincoln, Vietnam, World War I and other monuments on the west side of the Mall from about 11 am on looking for production or other clues (and finding naught), literally stumbled into a team over by the Martin Luther King Memorial at a little after noon. Two women, brunettes, wearing red fleece jackets, with film crew. They seemed to be working on some clue that had something to do with MLK. No production folks at the site, though. They talked to a memorial docent, who told them the only other MLK-related things he could think of were the MLK library (highly unlikely, it's an ugly 70's glass building in a high-traffic part of town) or an inscription on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial where MLK gave his "I Had a Dream" speech. He was under the impression the girls would head to the Lincoln Memorial. I talked to their cab driver, who said the girls had told him not to wait as they didn't know how long they would be. That could have caused them a problem. FWIW, he really liked them, so they must not have been too assy.

A set of guys were there as well, but I only saw them from afar, as I was talking to their cab driver, who had been asked to wait. He described one of them as having longish blond hair, had no description of the other. Just then, the guys popped out at the end of the block and waved him down, so he sped away from me to get them. Saw another guy there with shortish brown hair, but didn't see them from the front. Tried to follow their cab, but they got away from me.

Went back to the Lincoln but found no teams and no production. The whole MLK thing must have been either a bad misreading of a clue or a decoy route.

Got a tip that there was a road closure over by the Smithsonian Museum of American History, so headed there. Turned out that the racers went to the nearby Old Post Office. I got there about 10 minutes after they left, no production in sight. There, they had to get their clue in a souvenir shop after having their picture taken with a cardboard Obama. The shop keeper told me that three teams came for clues, all within about 5-10 minutes of each other. All of them asked for directions to the Tidal Basin. I was told that blondes in pink were there. Unfortunately, I had to give up the chase at that point and return to life. So

As an aside, the Old Post Office seemed an odd choice. Inside there's nothing but a food court and a few small, tacky shops. There's a gubbmint agency on the top floors, so you can't get in without a full security check (x ray machine for jackets and packages, metal detector to enter). Maybe CBS got that waived.

Got a couple of pics, but they're either too blurry or too far away to be of use. I'll post 'em anyway once I get them off my camera.

Sorry I couldn't get more, but it was fun to run along, and I don't expect TAR to come back to DC anytime soon. Thanks for launching me on this quest, Peach!

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

"Going through customs and retrieving our luggage was easy; the wait for our next flight wasn't such a breeze. Apparently, they were taping the Amazing Race and the camera crew, sound guys and contestants were completely obnoxious."

Going through customs and retrieving our luggage was easy; the wait for our next flight wasn't such a breeze. Apparently, they were taping the Amazing Race and the camera crew, sound guys and contestants were completely obnoxious. The flight to Vaitape was nice. Make sure you sit on the right side of the plane-you will have an amazing aerial view of Bora Bora. Before the plane even opened the cabin door, there were additional film crews waiting outside. We sat patiently and watched as the contestants pushed their way out of the cabin door and took off running to get their luggage

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Here's a picture that @tanyadunc99 posted to Twitter. I can't save it, but hopefully someone better equipped can grab it from instagram and upload it here. It looks like the Roller Derby Girls at a small booth decorated in Red, White and Blue bunting. It has among other things, a couple of monitors and a framed picture of President Obama. From other descriptions, I think this was taken at the Old Post Office building yesterday. I don't see any cameras, so that may mean the Roller Derby Girls were decoys.

Here's a picture that @tanyadunc99 posted to Twitter. I can't save it, but hopefully someone better equipped can grab it from instagram and upload it here. It looks like the Roller Derby Girls at a small booth decorated in Red, White and Blue bunting. It has among other things, a couple of monitors and a framed picture of President Obama. From other descriptions, I think this was taken at the Old Post Office building yesterday. I don't see any cameras, so that may mean the Roller Derby Girls were decoys.

-this was the final destination city....awesome choice although it was 50 degrees chilly and grey out which is typical dc winter weather.-per the info found here, appears teams arrived via international terminal at Dulles.-I saw three teams. Earlier I stated four but upon review, and having a chance to calm down from the excitement, it was three. All three didn't appear to be decoys and are as follows:1)male/female team earlier noted to be the team possibly Jaclyn/Jarod. The earlier shot posted here of this team helped me ID them as he was wearing very similar outfit to that shot/bright green running sneakers.2)pink team I can verify was the grapplers Elizabeth and Mona.3)male/male hockey players, who were in a lead based on my timing

Locations I saw were between 12 noon and 1:15 pm at Nationals Park (clue box and challenge rigging as noted earlier in my post and seen in my shots) and Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial (Part of the larger West and East Potomac Park off the National Mall). The sequence of my shots, since they were out of order, was Nationals Park (from 12-12:35ish with shots of rigging, gates and Phil & steady cam) then Tidal Basin (12:40-1ish with shots of Roadblock with spies, teams running around with briefcases and teams attempting to hail a cab after getting clue) and then back to Nats Park (1-1:15 for shots of clue box and hockey players jumping into cab following challenge).

Some notes about what I saw/clarify now that you see the shots:-I noted the rigging for the challenge seemed to have teams manually ascend up the rigging from the outfield plaza to the top of the stadium. I didn't see it in action however the rigging and harnesses were set up in the plaza but it could have been for Phil's standup when i saw them there (notice in the shots through the gate you can see the truss and all on the outfield plaza but mats set up in front to perhaps stop a descent of a team member as if a zip line). I didn't see the hockey players complete this but did hear one say it was snug up in there as they ran out.-hockey players were running casually which made me think they were decoys but based on the sequence and my timing, they were ahead by a lot (20-30 mins) then the teams I saw scrambling at the Roadblock at the Basin. With this lead and being only team at the challenge, I could understand a slower pace out to their cab, especially since a production car and camera crew followed along in other car and in cab (see the photo of the yellow cab...they ran out and hopped in and I didn't have my phone ready sadly)-the shots of the pink team are the one in the dark vest sprinting around the basin doing the roadblock and her partner waiting with camera crew behind the car as seen in the shot. This is Elizabeth and Mona. They seemed to have upper hand/lead over female/male team by just a few minutes. The one behind the car was giving reaction/thoughts to camera man calmly, but had pack on ready to go. Production asked me to move along nicely but as I drove by I could see a team sprinting up steps of Jefferson across the Basin. I also passed the town car/limo with race flags on bumper like a motorcade but only saw one. Based on the parking lot, tents and crew, I'm now concluding that the clue was to find this car and driver for clue for roadblock and then do spy portion. I do not think it was their transportation as there was only one and that area seemed to be home base for crew and where the one team member waited.-teams (as seen in the distant shots of what looks like sidewalks and streets you can see Mona/Elizabeth and camera man) ran out from the Mall side of the Basin to intersection of Independence Ave by the Basin and ramps to/off of southeast southwest freeway and 395 by Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Both pink and male/female were trying to hail cabs at same time within 15 feet of each other and frantically running up and down sidewalk trying to get one, clue envelopes in hand. This is not a strong spot for cabs, and sadly I couldn't flag them down to tell them.-there is one shot of a man in a red jacket at Nats Park pointing as if giving to directions to another man. That's just the security guy at the gate giving directions to a tourist...errant shot!-I don't know where they came from but from these other tweets Old Post Office sounds like their earlier stop. I've been to that gift store and its junky and tacky and they try to get every tourist to stop and take a picture with the Obama cut out. Not sure if that was a task, etc but the team seen in that shot is Mona and Elizabeth and were wearing the same clothes at Roadblock. Interesting note: old post office is one of the underused federally owned buildings that recently was sold and will be becoming a trump hotel. Historical landmark that makes for a great route marker, and he's promised to preserve it somehow.-didn't overhear anything about Mount Vernon but makes great sense for finish line. Direct route from Nats Park on highways to GW Parkway which runs right up to the estate, secluded and not a heavy tourist destination this time of year mid day when they were racing (come spring and summer tons of school kids)

December 7, 2012 - Avid reality show fan here. Heard news that the Amazing Race 22 was filming around the DC Metro area yesterday. hop on to the Metro train station to Nationals Park in the afternoon. Saw notice signs on lightpoles everywhere saying that there was an event taken place at the ballpark. when i approach the center field gates ... saw a team (two males) with a camera guy filming them around the Amazing Race clue box possibly deciding to do the detour challenge or not . As you can see also, there was EMT ambulance on stand by too. Didn't see any other team(s) beside them during that time. Apparently they were well ahead at that point of the race.

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

"Going through customs and retrieving our luggage was easy; the wait for our next flight wasn't such a breeze. Apparently, they were taping the Amazing Race and the camera crew, sound guys and contestants were completely obnoxious."

Going through customs and retrieving our luggage was easy; the wait for our next flight wasn't such a breeze. Apparently, they were taping the Amazing Race and the camera crew, sound guys and contestants were completely obnoxious. The flight to Vaitape was nice. Make sure you sit on the right side of the plane-you will have an amazing aerial view of Bora Bora. Before the plane even opened the cabin door, there were additional film crews waiting outside. We sat patiently and watched as the contestants pushed their way out of the cabin door and took off running to get their luggage

Do you two know you missed out on all the photos?? I won't copy them without permission, but go and have a look! There's a few good ones

"Going through customs and retrieving our luggage was easy; the wait for our next flight wasn't such a breeze. Apparently, they were taping the Amazing Race and the camera crew, sound guys and contestants were completely obnoxious."

Going through customs and retrieving our luggage was easy; the wait for our next flight wasn't such a breeze. Apparently, they were taping the Amazing Race and the camera crew, sound guys and contestants were completely obnoxious. The flight to Vaitape was nice. Make sure you sit on the right side of the plane-you will have an amazing aerial view of Bora Bora. Before the plane even opened the cabin door, there were additional film crews waiting outside. We sat patiently and watched as the contestants pushed their way out of the cabin door and took off running to get their luggage

Do you two know you missed out on all the photos?? I won't copy them without permission, but go and have a look! There's a few good ones

Yeah, I saw that photo really clearly but cannot taken photo because won't copy them permission!! Check this out and you a look and good photos!!

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I really wish we could stay longer in the countries we visit, but I've been lucky to have visited most of them before, because I've done a tremendous amount of travel. - Phil Keoghan